editorNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Award-winning journalist Richard Harris has reported on a wide range of topics in science, medicine and the environment since he joined NPR in 1986. In early 2014, his focus shifted from an emphasis on climate change and the environment to biomedical research. Harris has traveled to all seven continents for NPR. His reports have originated from Timbuktu, the South Pole, the Galapagos Islands, Beijing during the SARS epidemic, the center of Greenland, the Amazon rain forest, the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro (for a story about tuberculosis), and Japan to cover the nuclear aftermath of the 2011 tsunami. In 2010, Harris' reporting revealed that the blown-out BP oil well in the Gulf of Mexico was spewing out far more oil than asserted in the official estimates. That revelation led the federal government to make a more realistic assessment of the extent of the spill. Harris covered climate change for decades. He reported from the United Nations climate negotiations, starting with the Earth SummitNPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94Richard HarrisTue, 06 Mar 2018 02:26:41 +0000Richard Harrishttp://peoriapublicradio.org
Richard HarrisA major medical association today suggested that doctors who treat people with Type 2 diabetes can set less aggressive blood sugar targets. But medical groups that specialize in diabetes sharply disagree. Half a dozen medical groups have looked carefully at the best treatment guidelines for the 29 million Americans who have Type 2 diabetes and have come up with somewhat differing guidelines. The American College of Physicians has reviewed those guidelines to provide its own recommendations , published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. It has decided that less stringent goals are appropriate for the key blood sugar test, called the A1C. "There are harms associated with overzealous treatment or inappropriate treatment focused on A1C targets," says Dr. Jack Ende , president of the ACP. "And for that reason, this is not the kind of situation where the college could just sit back and ignore things." The ACP, which represents internists, recommends that doctors aim for an A1C in the rangeMajor Medical Associations Feud Over Diabetes Guidelineshttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/major-medical-associations-feud-over-diabetes-guidelines
88385 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgMon, 05 Mar 2018 22:21:00 +0000Major Medical Associations Feud Over Diabetes GuidelinesRichard HarrisFlu is still rampant across the United States, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the epidemic has peaked. It eased a bit last week, for the second week in a row. Influenza is still claiming lives. The CDC reported 17 flu deaths among children last week, bringing the total pediatric deaths to 114. Adult deaths from the flu are not tracked directly. The disease is "widespread" in 45 states and Puerto Rico. But health officials in Oregon, Minnesota, Texas, New Hampshire, Hawaii and the District of Columbia report that they're seeing only regional or local flu activity. "That's a very good sign that activity is decreasing. There still is a lot of flu out there," says Dr. Alicia Fry who works in the influenza division at the CDC. One gauge of flu activity is reports of "influenza-like illness" as a percentage of all medical visits to a particular set of medical facilities that gather this data. That figure dropped from 7.5 percent of all visits three weeks ago,For The Second Week, The Flu Epidemic Has Easedhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/second-week-flu-epidemic-has-eased
88291 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgFri, 02 Mar 2018 19:29:00 +0000For The Second Week, The Flu Epidemic Has EasedRichard HarrisThe technology that drives science forward is forever accelerating, but the same can't be said for science communication. The basic process still holds many vestiges from its early days — that is the 17th century. Some scientists are pressing to change that critical part of the scientific enterprise. Here's what they're confronting: When researchers studying the biology of disease make a discovery, it typically takes nine months for them to get their results published in a journal. One reason for that delay is it goes through a process of peer review that is both necessary and antiquated. The fate of that paper rests on just two or three scientists who have been asked to review it and decide whether it's worthy of being published. Imagine how this would feel if the matter in question were a consumer product. "If the only thing Amazon ever published were reviews of the first three people who bought a product, then we'd have a very ineffective system for knowing what was good and bad,"Scientists Aim To Pull Peer Review Out Of The 17th Centuryhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/scientists-aim-pull-peer-review-out-17th-century
87995 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgSat, 24 Feb 2018 13:25:00 +0000Scientists Aim To Pull Peer Review Out Of The 17th CenturyRichard HarrisA quarter of a million Americans die every year from sepsis, which is the body's reaction to overwhelming infection. This cascade of organ failure can be nipped in the bud if health care workers know it's ramping up, but that's often not easy to do. "Sepsis is a really frustrating disease," says Dr. David Carlbom , a critical care pulmonologist, and medical director of the sepsis program at the Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. "There's no blood test for sepsis," he says. "There's nothing you can look at under the microscope and say 'this is sepsis.' " So a few years ago, Carlbom set out to devise a system that uses more subtle clues from a patient's day-to-day electronic health records to send up warning flags of impending sepsis. The automated system looks for patterns in symptoms like high temperature, low temperature, low blood pressure, fast breathing and high white-blood-cell counts. No single symptom signals sepsis, but certain patterns suggest this condition could beSynergy Between Nurses And Automation Could Be Key To Finding Sepsis Earlyhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/synergy-between-nurses-and-automation-could-be-key-finding-sepsis-early
87899 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgThu, 22 Feb 2018 17:40:00 +0000Synergy Between Nurses And Automation Could Be Key To Finding Sepsis EarlyRichard HarrisThis story of a man who nearly died in the hospital actually started in the woods of Washington's Cascade Mountains last summer. "I was cutting for a logging outfit up on these rock cliffs and I felled a 150-foot fir tree into [some] maple trees," says Kristopher Kelly, a 51-year-old lumberjack. The maples "had a bunch of dead tops — they call 'em widow makers," Kelly says. "You don't want to get under them because they'll make you a widow." And when the top of the fir tree crashed into those maples, he says, the butt of the tree he had just felled bounced back toward him. "I was against a rock cliff, I didn't have anywhere to go and I got crushed." The tree smashed his pelvis and broke all his ribs, he says. He had 22 breaks in all. "I heard the bones crunch when it got me. It was pretty crazy." Two of his colleagues were working nearby but didn't realize he was in distress. "I'd yell for a minute and then I'd pass out," Kelly says "I guess my ribs were ripping my lungs, which is theDid An IV Cocktail Of Vitamins And Drugs Save This Lumberjack From Sepsis?http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/did-iv-cocktail-vitamins-and-drugs-save-lumberjack-sepsis
87838 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgWed, 21 Feb 2018 17:45:00 +0000Did An IV Cocktail Of Vitamins And Drugs Save This Lumberjack From Sepsis?Richard HarrisFederal health officials say that, as they anticipated, the flu vaccine isn't very effective this year — but they say it has still prevented thousands of serious illnesses and deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention figures that, overall, the flu vaccine is 36 percent effective at preventing disease. One bright point for parents of young kids: Children ages 6 months to 8 years responded significantly better to the vaccine than older Americans. There are three major strains of flu virus circulating at the moment, causing one of the worst flu seasons in recent years. The vaccine is 25 percent effective against the most common strain, H3N2. It's 42 percent effective against influenza B viruses and 67 percent effective against H1N1 viruses, according to the results of a study involving about 4,600 people. "Even with current vaccine effectiveness estimates, vaccination will still prevent influenza illness, including thousands of hospitalizations and deaths," scientists fromYoung Kids Are Getting The Best Protection From Current Flu Vaccinehttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/young-kids-are-getting-best-protection-current-flu-vaccine
87572 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgThu, 15 Feb 2018 18:01:00 +0000Young Kids Are Getting The Best Protection From Current Flu VaccineRichard HarrisThe peak of the flu season could still be several weeks away, federal health officials cautioned Friday. "We may be on track to break some recent records," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all states are still reporting widespread flu activity, with less severe reports only coming from Oregon and Hawaii. "Flu is incredibly difficult to predict and we don't know if we've hit the peak yet," Schuchat said in a call with reporters. "We could still see several more weeks of increased activity." Health officials don't directly count flu cases and deaths for the general population. They do track deaths among children, which climbed to a total of 63 for this season. Another measure is the percentage of deaths attributed to flu or pneumonia, which often accompanies influenza. Last week, 1 in 10 of all deaths reported in the United States were caused by flu or pneumonia. The rate of flu activity is similar to the rate in 2009,Spot Shortages Of Antiviral Drugs Seen As Flu Season Drags Onhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/spot-shortages-antiviral-drugs-seen-flu-season-drags
87282 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgFri, 09 Feb 2018 18:13:00 +0000Spot Shortages Of Antiviral Drugs Seen As Flu Season Drags OnRichard HarrisThe current flu season is still getting worse, federal health officials said Friday. And it continues to take a toll on children. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an additional 16 flu deaths among children, bringing the nationwide total this season for youngsters to 53. About half of those children apparently had been healthy and had no special vulnerability to this viral disease, said Dr. Anne Schuchat , acting director of the CDC. And the risk is not going away. "Unfortunately, our latest tracking data indicate flu activity is still high and widespread," Schuchat said at a weekly briefing. The report is from data as of one week ago, the 10th week of this flu season. Seasons typically last 11 to 20 weeks. Hospitalization rates are the highest since the CDC started tracking these figures in 2010. One glimmer of hope: There are early indications that flu activity may be peaking in the West, "but we are by no means out of the woods," said Schuchat, noting that theCDC: Flu Season Getting Even Worse, Especially For Childrenhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/cdc-flu-season-getting-even-worse-especially-children
86945 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgFri, 02 Feb 2018 18:06:00 +0000CDC: Flu Season Getting Even Worse, Especially For ChildrenRichard HarrisResearchers say they have taken a step toward developing a blood test that would detect eight common cancers, possibly even before symptoms appear. As they report Thursday in the journal Science, they're hoping their idea would eventually lead to a $500 test that can screen for cancer and identify people with the disease when it's in its earliest stages and more treatable. But they have a long way to go. There have been many attempts over the decades to develop blood tests to screen for cancers. Some look for proteins in the blood that appear with cancer. Others more recently have focused on DNA from tumors. But these methods alone don't give reliable results. So Nickolas Papadopoulos , a professor of oncology and pathology at the Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, collaborated with many colleagues at the medical school to develop a new approach . It combines two methods into one test. Their experimental test, dubbed CancerSEEK, focuses on eight major cancers: lung, breast,Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect Cancershttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/scientists-edge-closer-blood-test-detect-cancers
86198 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgThu, 18 Jan 2018 20:46:00 +0000Scientists Edge Closer To A Blood Test To Detect CancersRichard HarrisCopyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: President Trump is in excellent health. That's the word from the White House physician who examined him last week and went before the media to answer questions today. He says Trump aced a cognitive exam that the president himself requested. On the other hand, the doctor said Trump is so overweight that he is nearly obese and needs to start exercising daily. Joining us with more is NPR science correspondent Richard Harris. Hey, Richard. RICHARD HARRIS, BYLINE: Hi, Ari. SHAPIRO: Let's start with the president's mental abilities because those have been questioned lately by some of his critics. What did the exam show on that score? HARRIS: Well, the White House physician, Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, said he chose to test the president with a test called MoCA, which takes - took about 30 minutes in this case, can sometimes take a little bit less time. It checks our retention, memory recall and other signs of cognitive function. Now,White House Physician Says Trump Is In 'Excellent Health'http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/white-house-physician-says-trump-excellent-health
86131 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgTue, 16 Jan 2018 22:30:00 +0000White House Physician Says Trump Is In 'Excellent Health'Richard HarrisPeople diagnosed with cancer understandably reach for the very best that medical science has to offer. That motivation is increasingly driving people to ask to have the DNA of their tumors sequenced. And while that's useful for some malignancies, the hype of precision medicine for cancer is getting far ahead of the facts. It's easy to understand why that's the case. When you hear stories about the use of DNA sequencing to create individualized cancer treatment, chances are they are uplifting stories. Like that of Ben Stern. In the spring of 2016, Stern was diagnosed with a deadly brain cancer, glioblastoma . His doctors at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins promptly treated him with surgery, then over the months, chemotherapy and radiation. He even got on a clinical trial to see if a leading edge drug called a checkpoint inhibitor would work. Ben Stern found out abruptly that wasn't doing the trick either, when he was struck with a seizure. "My whole rightFor Now, Sequencing Cancer Tumors Holds More Promise Than Proofhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/now-sequencing-cancer-tumors-holds-more-promise-proof
86040 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgMon, 15 Jan 2018 09:58:00 +0000For Now, Sequencing Cancer Tumors Holds More Promise Than ProofRichard HarrisThe results of an IQ test can depend on the gender of the person who's conducting the test. Likewise, studies of pain medication can be completely thrown off by the gender of the experimenter. This underappreciated problem is one reason that some scientific findings don't stand the test of time. Colin Chapman found out about this problem the hard way. He had traveled to Sweden on a Fulbright scholarship to launch his career in neuroscience. And he decided to study whether a nasal spray containing a hormone called oxytocin would help control obesity. The hormone influences appetite and impulsive behavior in obese men. "I was really excited about this project, from what I understood about how the brain works, I thought it was kind of a slam dunk," he says. Chapman set up the experiment and then left for a few years to attend Harvard Law School. When he returned, the findings were not at all what he expected, "and I was really disappointed because this was my baby, it was my big projectA Scientist's Gender Can Skew Research Resultshttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/scientists-gender-can-skew-research-results
85837 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgWed, 10 Jan 2018 20:10:00 +0000A Scientist's Gender Can Skew Research ResultsRichard HarrisCould babies be at higher risk of developing Type 1 diabetes from drinking formula made from cow's milk? That idea has been circulating for some time but the evidence has been scant and contradictory. A study published Tuesday makes it seem less likely. There are two types of diabetes, and both are on the rise. It's clear that a major driving force behind the increase of Type 2 diabetes, which mainly affects adults, is the eating habits that are also driving the rise of obesity. A much bigger mystery is what has been propelling the increase of Type 1 diabetes (once called juvenile diabetes). This disease usually strikes children and takes hold when a child's immune system starts attacking cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Researchers in Finland have been trying to tease apart the role of cow's milk for many years. In 2010 they published some intriguing results . They looked at antibodies that appear to be part of the Type 1 diabetes process. Studying 230 infants, they foundStudy Finds No Link Between Baby Formula Made From Cow's Milk And Diabetes Riskhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/study-finds-no-link-between-baby-formula-made-cows-milk-and-diabetes-risk
85453 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgTue, 02 Jan 2018 16:09:00 +0000Study Finds No Link Between Baby Formula Made From Cow's Milk And Diabetes RiskRichard HarrisFederal taxpayers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a quest for blood samples, medical information and fitness readouts from a million Americans. It's called the All of Us precision medicine initiative, and it's the biggest push ever mounted to create a huge public pool of data that scientists — and anybody else who is interested — can mine for clues about health and disease. Proponents say this big data approach to medicine will be revolutionary. Critics aren't so sure. The plan is to recruit a million Americans to sign up for a program that will not only gather all sorts of medical data about them but will also follow them for at least a decade, possibly much longer. Their electronic medical records could end up in huge databases. The physical samples of blood and urine will end up in an industrial park in Rochester, Minn. Mine Cicek , an assistant professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at the Mayo Clinic, leads me into a vast building with more than an acreResearchers Gather Health Data For 'All Of Us'http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/researchers-gather-health-data-all-us
85396 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgSun, 31 Dec 2017 13:12:00 +0000Researchers Gather Health Data For 'All Of Us'Richard HarrisYou might not suspect that the success of the emerging field of precision medicine depends heavily on the couriers who push carts down hospital halls. But samples taken during surgery may end up in poor shape by the time they get to the pathology lab — and that has serious implications for patients as well as for scientists who want to use that material to develop personalized tests and treatments that are safer and more effective. Consider the story of a test that's commonly used to choose the right treatment for breast cancer patients. About a decade ago, pathologists realized that the HER2 test , which looks for a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells, was wrong about 20 percent of the time . As a result, some women were getting the wrong treatment. The trouble wasn't with the test itself — problems arose because the samples to be tested weren't handled carefully and consistently. To reduce the error rate, doctors established guidelines in 2007 to assure that breastPrecision Medical Treatments Have A Quality Control Problemhttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/precision-medical-treatments-have-quality-control-problem
85344 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgFri, 29 Dec 2017 16:55:00 +0000Precision Medical Treatments Have A Quality Control ProblemRichard HarrisThe Mayo Clinic is building its future around high-tech approaches to research known as "precision medicine." This involves gathering huge amounts of information from genetic tests, medical records and other data sources to ferret out unexpected ideas to advance health. But one longtime scientist at the Mayo Clinic isn't playing along. Dr. Michael Joyner is a skeptical voice in a sea of eager advocates. Joyner's lab studies exercise. It is, fittingly enough, in a hospital building founded in the 1880s. While Mayo has built all sorts of new labs at its sprawling campus in Rochester, Minn., Joyner can conduct his work without glitzy DNA sequencers and other high-tech tools of precision medicine. And it's not simply that he's an old-school devotee. He believes that the solution to our most pressing health problems lies in thinking about whole human beings, not breaking everything down to DNA sequences. "The enthusiasm for this [precision medicine] is occurring in a country where lifeWill Gathering Vast Troves of Information Really Lead To Better Health?http://peoriapublicradio.org/post/will-gathering-vast-troves-information-really-lead-better-health
85306 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgThu, 28 Dec 2017 20:55:00 +0000Will Gathering Vast Troves of Information Really Lead To Better Health?Richard HarrisScientists say they have created a partly man-made bacterium that can produce proteins not found in nature. This new life form, the latest development in a field called "synthetic biology," could eventually be used to produce novel drugs. The Scripps Research Institute's Floyd Romesberg and colleagues have been pushing toward this goal for well over a decade. Three years ago, they announced that they had added two more letters to the genetic alphabet of a bacterium: To DNA's familiar A, T, C, and G, they added X and Y. That expanded genetic alphabet vastly increased the number of "words" that DNA could store, and so expanded the language of life. Now they report in the journal Nature that they've engineered those bacterial cells to read that new code and to use it to assemble proteins that contain man-made parts. "Proteins have become hugely important for drug discovery," Romesberg says. "Proteins are now being used as drugs." Examples include insulin, antibodies, interferons andScientists Train Bacteria To Build Unnatural Proteinshttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/scientists-move-step-closer-making-synthetic-life
83968 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgWed, 29 Nov 2017 18:11:00 +0000Scientists Train Bacteria To Build Unnatural ProteinsRichard HarrisWhen was the last time you were asked to sit without saying a word for five minutes before your blood pressure was measured? If your answer was "I never remember doing that," you're in good company. Yet that is one of the many rules that medical professionals are supposed to follow when measuring your blood pressure. Paul Whelton, a cardiovascular specialist at the Tulane University School of Public Health, says airplane pilots always run down a safety checklist before taking off. "We would be shocked if a pilot told us he was in a rush and just didn't have time to do it." Yet he says clinicians aren't taking enough care to make an important measurement when it comes to health: reading blood pressure values. That is topical right now because Whelton is among a group of physicians who have just recommended new standards for blood pressure . Now, if your blood pressure tops 130 over 80, you are in unhealthy territory. Having an accurate measure is important because more people than everOdds Are, They're Taking Your Blood Pressure All Wronghttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/odds-are-theyre-taking-your-blood-pressure-all-wrong
83539 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgMon, 20 Nov 2017 09:58:00 +0000Odds Are, They're Taking Your Blood Pressure All WrongRichard HarrisA child who was on the verge of death from a rare inherited disease has been treated with genetically engineered skin cells that replaced most of the skin on his body. The treatment represents a notable success for the field of gene therapy, which has suffered many setbacks. And it's potentially good news for children suffering from a painful and often deadly skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa. In this disease, children are born with a flawed gene that prevents the outer layer of the skin, the epidermis, from binding to the inner layer. This can cause excruciating blisters to form all over these children's bodies. In the case in Europe, a 7-year old boy ended up in the hospital back in 2015 after 60 percent of his epidermis had sloughed off. Tobias Rothoeft, a surgeon at a burn unit at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, says he and his colleagues tried everything — including a skin transplant from the boy's father — to no avail. "After nearly two months we were absolutelyGenetically Altered Skin Saves A Boy Dying Of A Rare Diseasehttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/genetically-altered-skin-saves-boy-dying-rare-disease
83061 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgWed, 08 Nov 2017 18:29:00 +0000Genetically Altered Skin Saves A Boy Dying Of A Rare DiseaseRichard HarrisCancer drugs cost far less to develop than industry-backed research asserts, an analysis published Monday asserts. Research and development costs are a major reason that drug companies justify high prices, so this dispute has a direct bearing on the cost of medical care. The analysis , published in the current issue of JAMA Internal Medicine , concludes that it costs, on average, $650 million to develop a new cancer drug. The authors add in another $100 million or so to account for income those companies could have had if that money had been invested in the stock market instead of in new products. That total is far lower than the $2.7 billion figure that the drug industry frequently points to when it justifies the soaring cost of medicine. (It's far higher than $320 million — an inflation-adjusted figure from a 2001 study by the consumer group Public Citizen). To arrive at this new figure, cancer physicians Vinay Prasad , at Oregon Health and Science University, and Sham Mailankody ,R&D Costs For Cancer Drugs Are Likely Much Less Than Industry Claims, Study Findshttp://peoriapublicradio.org/post/rd-costs-cancer-drugs-are-likely-much-less-industry-claims-study-finds
80472 as http://peoriapublicradio.orgMon, 11 Sep 2017 17:10:00 +0000